Cells comprised in cellular communication networks may have various sizes depending on how the network is designed. Cellular cells may have radii of several kilometers, for example. Local networks such as wireless local area networks, WLANs, Femto cells or local area evolution, LAE, networks may be configured to have smaller cells than cellular communication networks. Local network cells may have radii of tens to hundreds of meters, for example. Local area network cells, like cellular cells, may be non-circular in shape; they may for example be shaped like sectors of antennas. Local networks may comprise only one cell such as a WLAN access point, AP, or they may comprise several local network cells.
Cellular and local networks may have different characteristics of service offered to mobile units attached thereto. For example, a cellular system may provide wide-area coverage by means of larger cells and lossless handover and roaming procedures. Local networks may offer more localized service with higher datarates than obtainable in co-located cellular cells. Local networks and their cells may be configured to serve less mobile users than cellular networks.
Cellular and local networks may complement each other. A local network cell may be configured to receive users from a cellular cell the local network cell is located at least partly in. For example, a cellular cell may be configured to hand over an attached mobile to a local cell when the mobile request a high datarate that the local cell can offer more readily than the cellular cell.
In order to change attachment from a cellular cell to a local cell, a mobile may need to discover the local cell by detecting a beacon transmission from the local cell. In order to change attachment from a local cell to a cellular cell, a mobile may need to discover the cellular cell by detecting a beacon transmission from the cellular cell.